The Movie & Story > Characters, Quotes & Scenes

Some small symbolism

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JustJesse:
Hey guys, anyone around in 2024 😅? This is my first post, and apologies if there is already another post dedicated to this topic – I tried my best to scan through the hundreds of posts, but I probably missed something.
Anyway, I was rereading the BBM short story the other day and noticed one passage that seemed really symbolic:

"During the day Ennis looked across a great gulf and saw Jack, a small dot moving across a high meadow as an insect moves across a tablecloth; Jack, in his dark camp, saw Ennis as night fire, a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain."

I feel like this really sums up the way the two characters view each other.

The first section of the quote is symbolic of how Ennis views Jack. Firstly, the "great gulf" could be interpreted as being all the issues and challenges that prevent Ennis acting on his romantic feels towards Jack. It also alludes to the fact that Ennis feels that he is far from Jack, that Jack is something unreachable, and that it would dangerous to even try to get to him. When Jack is compared to the way that "an insect moves a cross a tablecloth" it evokes the image of a clean tablecloth with a single imperfect speck - the insect. In this way, Ennis views the heteronormative masculine lifestyle that he is trapped in as the clean tablecloth, something to be desired, something practical; while Jack is viewed as the insect, an imperfection, a nuisance.

The second part of the quote demonstrates how Jack sees Ennis. Naturally, fire is symbolic of raw passion and emotion, as well as its obvious quality of spreading warmth. It is something wild and untamable, that can hurt you if you get too close, but, at the right distance, will warm you. Although Ennis is by no means a "warm" person (whether by nature or by societal standard, I'm not sure), this serves to represent how Jack feels both the risk of being with Ennis - that Ennis will lash out - as well as the comfort that it could bring. The addition of the description "a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain" serves to show the fire as something interesting against a bland background - how Jack sees Ennis as something with life and light in an otherwise boring world.

That concludes my massive spiel, and hopefully all of that makes some sort of sense. Also, I'm not sure if I posted this in the right place - if I haven't, please let me know. Anyways, I'm really curious to hear how you guys interpreted this scene.

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